our growing family

2010-02-24T20:25:00.001-08:00

Well.. I haven't posted in forever! Magnolia is 16 years old today! Just kidding...but she DID turn 2 a couple weeks ago!

So much has happened in the last few months. It's hard to sort it all out but I was just lying in bed, feeling guilty that I have an empty baby book to give to Noli someday and thinking it's my job as her mom to let her know where/how/when/and where she was in her early years. It doesn't help that I am surrounded by AMAZING moms who do so much for their children and make me feel completely inadequate (you KNOW who you are).

Ok... So my last post was in July??? I am a horrible blogger! Poor Noli... she's going to be so jealous of the other kids whose mom's have every significant AND insignificant event of their lives documented. Hopefully she will still think I am ok. Ha...

Ok... since July. Good grief. Where do I start?

1. I have a new niece, Stella Anne (named after yours truly) Rankin born November 23 (oh my gosh I hope that's right) 2009. She is gorgeous. DUH. and we love her so much. She is a mini Ava but by mini, I don't mean skinny, she is a chubbo and it's perfect. Pics to come!

2. I am currently 26 almost 27 weeks preggo with 2nd child, a boy, named... Cletus the Fetus. Still working on the name, obviously. Here he is!

3. We put our house on the market and it's been on for a full month, almost 5 weeks, and during this month, we have had record snowfalls and record horrendous lack of sunshine. That's not science- the last part, that's just my personal opinion. Magnolia and I are sick of being cooped up - which means we are always HOME - which makes having a "show ready" home slightly difficult.

Anyhoozle, our hopes were to move closer to Jordan's work, out of Irving, and into an area with good schools, and good friends. At this point, we are probably pulling it off the market in a couple weeks because it's just too close to the end of this pregnancy with selling, closing, buying a new place, and moving.

On that note...

My doc says that there is a pretty likely chance that this baby will come as early as - or earlier - than Magnolia. Which is pretty scary. I am jealous of people with actual due dates. Because of that, the house coming off the market so that we can prepare for baby boy is in our near future. I fear having him come early and have to stay in the guest bedroom. It's perfect for my mom, but not exactly how I envision my baby boy nursery.

So at this point, I'm just trying to take it easy and deal with Magnolia... Which brings me to the subject at hand.

Magnolia turned 2 on the 13th of this month. I must say, she's been a GREAT kid so far. Not to sound like one of those moms, it's just that Jordan and I are shocked that between the two of us she's so chilled out and ....not wild and insane, basically. She has been pretty well behaved and hasn't required much discipline because she has always responded to "NOLI! NO!" or "DANGER!". She has always shoved her way past the kids screaming, crying, and clinging desperately to their mommies at church, or any event that requires me to drop her off and walk away. She LOVES the social interaction and could care less if I'm there. I am proud of her independence. Well, those days are over. Here is a list of things that Naughty Noli has decided are going to be a major part of her turning 2. And I'm talking literally. About a week before she turned 2 - this all happened:

1. Fits. Huge. Awful.

These fits include the following stereotypical 2 year old reactions:

-hitting

-kicking

-high pitched squealing

-yelling NO!

-throwing stuff, which, if you didn't know this already, Magnolia wanted me to tell you- IT'S HILARIOUS.

-and when I picked her up from MOPS today, she was hysterically crying for Mommy for the first time EVER. Not a good feeling for me.

2. Quietly destroying things.

Before you know it, she will have:

- taken off her clothes - including her diaper

- pulled out every single toy and anything small, round and dangerous is immediately placed in a direct path of where I am walking.

- she has turned my computer into a talking robot, turned screens sideways, turned on music (not a comforting feeling when you know it is just the two of you in the house and all of a sudden you hear the soothing sounds of James Taylor coming from seemingly nowhere)

- ripped up entire rolls of toilet paper

- emptied out entire boxes of baby wipes - which she promptly squeeeezes all the juice of them as though competing in a strongman competition. - complete with the grunting sound effects.

-colored on the walls, tables, fireplace... you name it.

-folded laundry left on the couch? thrown all over the place.

-and lastly, but not leastly, all of this comes with hurting herself all the time. For the first time, I actually feel like my daughter is kind of like me! She busted her lip twice doing the same thing 2 times within a 15 minute period. We're talking blood pouring out of her mouth. Turns out she's more like her mommy than originally thought.

All of this may not seem like much for you people with crazy kids, but for me, it's an enormous change and while my child is adorable and borderline perfect - this whiny wild 2 year old behavior is not my favorite thing about her.

On to the good stuff!

2 year old Noli does this stuff:

Walks!

Runs!

Jumps!

Dances!

SINGS! My favorite, of course. She sings twinkle twinkle at top volume and it's just absolutely the most beautiful sounds to ever be heard on our planet. She also sings the ABC's and a few kiddie songs we listen to but she really loves The Wiggles (no one else in this house has seemed to embrace it..hmm...) They sing and dance on their show (in an extremely annoying way) and that's right up her alley. She has learned all the moves and words to a few of their songs. I have big plans to get this all on video and onto this blog before I post it. We shall see. I'm not very good at technology. Obviously.

Talks. A LOT. She went from no talking to never stopping. She has even started with little sentences. I can't decide if this is a wonderful breakthrough in our communication as parents and child, or if it's devastatingly sad because she is growing up. And she is HILARIOUS. She is already making me belly laugh. I have been waiting for this time for 2 years! She also says, I love you AND I love you too. It's definitely the best feeling even though she probably has no clue what she is actually saying. She has embraced the disappointing fact that daddy goes to work. Almost every day. And has decided that if someone isn't around, that's probably where they are. We couldn't find Trousers one day and Noli concluded that he was probably at work. Turns out he's a dog and he doesn't even have a decent resume.

She basically does everything and is right on track - or if you want to say she's a GENIUS, I won't argue. She has had a history of running a bit behind her peers, but she seems to catch up and pass them pretty quickly. She counted to 10 a couple times, then decided she just wanted to count like this, "1..2..1". Everyone in our family can attest to this. She casually mentioned 3 and 4 today. We shall see if it sticks.

Ok. I feel like I have done my job as a mom tonight. I can go to bed and hopefully even sleep. Wouldn't that be nice! I can't post quite yet as I need to try to figure out pics and videos onto this contraption, but this week!!!!

Thanks for reading this far. I type as fast as I talk so as you can imagine, I have alot of words that pour out onto this blog once I finally sit down.

Gurgle Blogle

2009-07-08T14:27:00.001-07:00

So, for over a year, Jordan has been debating on whether he should leave Fidelity, his company of almost 5 years. The financial industry has taken a huge blow - if you don't know this, you have been living under a rock, or have been turned into a rock and just turned back into a human - and after several paycuts and multiple scares of whether or not he would be employed at the end of the day, he decided to start looking around. Good news! He ended up getting a job at TD Ameritrade doing something similar, but different enough to hold his interest for a while! He is working for his old boss in Denver that he LOVED and is a much happier man to be around these days! ANYHOO..... with a new job comes a little bit of spare time between jobs. So, we made an impromptu visit to Florida. Jordan's cousin's live/work - on/in a - beautiful/gorgeous/fantastic resort on Pensacola Beach. We went down there for almost a week and made ourselves at home in the most luxurious place I've ever stayed in my LIFE. I truly felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman - except less of a prostitute and more of a mom/wife. I'm really feeling the "//////" today.

Anyhoodle, let's begin with the pictures.

This is the view from our hotel room. Not too shabby. A quick elevator ride and a stroll across the street and we are at the beach! It is a little inlet in Florida and on one side is the Gulf of Mexico and the other side is a bay with beautiful dolphins jumping around being adorable. A very narrow inlet to say the least!

We were probably a little TOO excited to see such a beautiful view of the Gulf from our hotel balcony. With a 1 year old, 2 naps a day and a pretty rigid bedtime of 8pm, the balcony became our little sanctuary! Drinking wine, listening to the waves and always a good soundtrack playing on the speakers, with my soulmate and a breeze in your face...ahhhhhhhh I can imagine it now! Sortof... Wait. I'm in Irving, Tx.

This is a little view of the kitchen (you can't see all of it. it's bigger than my kitchen. I have major kitchen envy), the dining room, and a little of the living room. Who needs a dining room in their hotel? Seriously? Anyhoo.. it was a great place to put all your crap when you come in from being out all afternoon.

This is a view of one of the buildings of the three on the resort. See how narrow our little inlet is? I told you so. It's gorgeous and slightly better than my last vacation to OKC. Kidding family and friends! OKC is better. Does that make you happy mom?

Noli trying to figure out how to get to the patio. It was glass walls so she could safely play out there even though now and then it totally freaked me out. Can't help myself.

We went to a place for dinner where they give you eyepatches....which, if you know me, is freaking awesome. I wish I could wear an eyepatch to dinner every night. Noli thinks eyepatches are stupid, by the way.

The first evening we were there, we finally got to the beach around sunset, which was absolutely perfect! Noli was totally digging (pun intended) the beach and brought home about 10 pounds of sand in her diaper and booty crack. As soon as she saw the sand, her eyebrows shot up and stayed up in "alert position" the entire time we were there. Those eyebrows mean business.

AHOY MATEYS! Pointing out to sea. I think she saw the Nina, or maybe the Pinto, Wait! I think it was the Santa Maria.

Ahhhh... there they are.

She loved the sand so much! It was NOTHING like the horrible sand in Malibu and Venice Beach! I didn't even find one empty syringe, or have my feet covered in tar when I walked away from the sand. I love Florida. So FANCY!

My little Indians. Or just one little Indian and one non Indian sitting Indian style. Close enough.

Loving on Daddy.

So, she looks kinda weird in this picture, but I like it of me and I'm vain like that. Whatever. You would do it too. Also, she has a big greasy forehead because about an hour before this shot, she feel violently onto her face and is smeared with neosporin. Poor thing.

...So we went swimming, and took a windy boat ride...

Every pool had a little ledge running all the way around the edge. Isn't that cool? It was amazingly kid friendly. Even little kid friendly.

Yay!

I can't believe I'm putting a picture of me in my suit. It was such a good time, I couldn't resist. By the way, the added SPF in this picture of the two of us totals 300 spf.

This kid was totally Noli's boyfriend for about 30 minutes. I can relate.

Look how silly and cute my baby is. SO WINDY!

I thought this picture was hilarious until she actually lost half of one of her front teeth. Now she just looks like a hobo version of herself.

Miss Lego Hair and her daddy.

Mommy + Magnolia = 2 gether 4 ever!

I never thought that I would love the Florida beaches so much but we had an amazing time and loved the silky soft sand and the lack of shark attacks! Can't wait to go back!

2009-06-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hi sweet baby bananahead. I love you so much!

My blogs are always a work in progress, so this blog starts on June 17th, but actually goes to today...whatever todays date is... Boy. That's a prime example of what mother hood has done to me.

Here is the big news of the month!

Sarah Elise Gingrich Is here!!!! 6lb 9oz, 19 in. Born June 14 at 11:51pm. Here is one of about a billion pictures you will see of her!

Also, Mandy, my sis, who is 20 weeks pregnant, called me today to tell me she's 90% sure she's having a girl! Yay for girls! We are the BEST! Annie Jr. is going to be so sweet... Can't WAIT to have another niece! Also, I LOVE seeing Noli's clothes on Sarah and will love seeing them on Annie Jr. too!

And Michael Jackson died this week - not that it is as important as my two new nieces..but still pretty monumental! He was a strange man in his later years but we will miss you MJ! He seriously effected our lives with his music and the desire to follow his footsteps to so many musicians that we listen to today! Justin Timberlake? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah. I thought so.

Back to Nolicious:

So, today, June 17, 2009, is Noli's first day of actually being disciplined by ways other than saying "no". It's a rarely heard concept that was developed by the ancient beings that built the Mayan temples. Or not. It's called "time out". So, I started the "time out" thing today around 2pm today... so far...she has already been in time out 4 times! For the SAME OFFENSE! STAY OUT OF THE DOG'S WATER BOWL LITTLE GIRL! ....I kinda understand the thick skulledness...between her dad's stubborness and my slight rebelliousness - ok. EXTREME rebelliousness. Anyhoodle...it's been a lovely day needless to say. I have to sit next to the time out rug with my hand either on her chest or her leg to keep her from running away...to... you guessed it... the dogs water bowl. COME ON! hahaha.. She is running and getting into EVERYTHING. This weekend will be our big weekend of childproofing. She has also realized that turning the doorknob opens doors. Not good news for mommy and daddy.

Update: she carries around her time out rug and, also, she was in time out 4 more times for putting her hand in the dogs water bowl that evening. happy to say that she hasn't done it since! It must be working!

I had a brief moment this morning during breakfast (her favorite, eggs and turkey sausage) where she kept looking at me and saying "mama!" and I would go over to her and see if she was really calling out for me... she wasn't. She was thirsty and I was holding her drink - or "mama". Dang. I can't win. She really isn't talking too much so I encourage it as much as possible.

We went to the doctor for her 15 month appointment - which was actually her 16.5 month appointment because she's just so darn healthy! - and the doc said that she's great, growing big and strong. I have a message for my pediatrician, "Dear Dr. Agrawal, do you really think it was necessary to say really REALLY big when describing my daughter's head? don't you think ONE really would have been enough?" No surprise here, but her head is HUGE. "lots of room for brains!" Dr. Agrawal said with a smile.... Magnolia doesn't say too much but I did see her look at a picture of a cow and say MOOOOO! Which was way too exciting for me.

Noli's words at 16.5 months:

1. Arf Arf

2. Whoa

3. Yay!

4. Uh-oh

5. Daddy

6. Moooo

7. Mama (but not usually to me, so I'm not sure it counts)

8. EIEIO

9. Ooh ooh aah aaah (monkey!)

10. aaaaaaaaaaaaa! Ok, that's not a word, but I wanted to round out my list with a healthy 10 words.

She:

-runs

-dances like CRAZY

-squeals when anyone says "i'm gonna get you!" then runs right to said person

-laughs a ton

-loves the sprinkler and anything else involving being outside

-swimming - esp. at her cousin Sarah's house.

-DOGGIES

-wearing one shoe - specifically the hand me down croc that won't fit for at least another 6 months

-brushing her teeth with MY toothbrush - then brushing the dog with my toothbrush, then the floor, then her teeth again...yum. I just saw her brushing the window sill with her toothbrush, then upon a closer look, I realized that she was spit cleaning it. She's like a little housekeeper.

-loves her PINK CHAIR! Yo Gabba Gabba, Hi-5, Wow Wow Wubbzy, and music videos

-loves rubbing stuff in her hair EVERY SINGLE MEAL (right now it smells like maple syrup. can you guess what she had for breakfast?)

She loves her new cousin Sarah! Is definitely confused and wants to hand her stuff in a very aggressive way that makes everyone in the room freak out a little...but she still is very interested in the little one!

I found this to be the perfect opportunity to throw in another picture of her...amazing how much they change from day to day! Isn't she beautiful???

Here are a few pictures of the little one doing what she does best.

Begging for food while chewing ...

Chilling out in Barnes and Noble with her one of her many boyfriends, Parks. Watchout fellas, she's a "cougar"!

Patiently waiting to see her new cousin Sarah

Trouble. This is not the first roll of toilet paper that has been annihilated at Noli's hand.

More...

Sweetie pants! She has the worst, straightest, mullet-iest hair ever in the history of time. Add in some "bumper bangs" and you have Noli's hair. We like to call it "lego hair".

Nice hair Mr. Lego.

She has scary teeth! Her daddy says, "have you been chewing on rocks?" I'm pretty sure she HAS now that I think about it.

She got a new playground thingy! She loves it so much but I don't love heat and mosquitos....so we don't use it that much unfortunately.

Doesn't that look like a wall cloud? I'm just sayin...

Pretty much everything else...

2009-04-23T12:53:00.001-07:00

HELLOOOOOO AND GOOD MORNING/AFTERNOON/EVENING EVERYONE!

Let me begin by saying, today is a GORGEOUS Texas day and we are enjoying it immensly -albeit indoors for now...

So, I'm starting this on kind of a sad note but this is my blog and I'll do what I want!!!
This last weekend was the 10th anniversary of my dad's death. I tried not to get too wrapped up in being sad, (because believe me, it can happen quickly) but instead, to celebrate his life by remembering the good stuff and telling Noli about him. It seems strange, but it's so easy to forget things about even the most important, life-changing people once they are gone. I try to remember the little things that helped build who he was as an attempt to create an outline for Noli of my dad, self-coined "Poppa Bear" to his grandchildren - of whom he now has 5 and one on the way. None of which did he have the pleasure to meet. Lots of people in my life never met my dad, including my husband. This is sad and I hate to even say it out loud because it hurts my heart. Anyhoodle, my dad was an amazing man and is missed more than he could ever imagine. I can't believe it's been 10 years dad.

love you.

Ok.. on to the happy lil baby news:

...since my last blog, Noli has learned SO MUCH! Here are a few of the things that have happened since Valentines day.

Magnolia's stuff that she does:

1.) Embraces clapping whole heartedly and now accompanies it with an alarmingly deep voiced "yaaaaaaay!" I enjoy this. Bigtime

2.) she has 8 teeth!

3.) screams when she doesn't get her way. I can't say I'm surprised. Between Jordan and I, we saw this coming a million miles away! We're working on it.... Otherwise, I can honestly say that she is a pretty chill kid.

4.) Walks! and RUNS! (not so much fun for me, but adorable nonetheless)

5.) Climbs! and gets into EVERYTHING! She only recently started putting everything in her mouth. Not cool. "danger!" is a common word around here...

6.) We have been to three birthday parties and I'm pretty sure that Noli has more fun than anyone else...including the birthday boy/girl. Sorry Kairi....in every picture of Kairi opening presents, little Noli is 1 foot away clapping and saying, "yay!" and pushing something across the room...haha...uhh...sorry.

7.) we have made 2 new friends! Kai, a big 2 year old boy that likes Juicy and Ricey and Magnolia is pretty much obsessed with him, and Parks, a 7 month old baby boy that Magnolia wants to play with her but he's too busy staring at his mommy.

8.) we took a trip to Austin with our friends Shawn, Suzy Q, and wee little Kai: fun, really fun, stayed in a super cool modern house and painted the town uhh...green? It's a different kind of trip with two 1 year olds... super fun nonetheless. I am so glad we took this trip and really enjoyed our time together because we didn't know they would be moving to Pheonix in just a few weeks! :( We miss them terribly but it's great that they get to get their new life started!

9.) We also went to Seaworld with Mandy, Todd, A.J., and Ava! It was ridiculously fun and I look forward to more family trips with other kids! I'm not sure if I had more fun than the kids, but it's a possibility. We fed dolphins stinky fish and petted them and saw Shamu's big self flying through the air. (by the way, I heard that litter eventually makes it's way to our oceans and the chemicals from the trash is actually causing killer whales to get breast cancer. So please do NOT litter and recycle if possible)(thanks)

10.) My sister is having another baby!!!! I can't believe all the babies happening right now! Jordan's sister (due June 21) and my sister (due Nov 28th - within 2 weeks of both of her other children's birthdays...ha) both are pregnant, and Mandy's sister-in-law, Jen, is also pregnant! I can't lie...it makes me want to be a part of the party, but Noli is pretty much wanting to be an only child right now! And also, having another baby would mean that I would be PREGNANT again and that I would be having a real live 2nd responsibility.... Not yet, but thanks.

11.) Sings EIEIOOOOOOO, and has recently started dancing (feverishly) to almost any song and quitely singing along with her own words and tune. I LOVE THIS. My musical baby.

There is so much that I'm not sure where to start, but I will blog again with some pics!

Believe it or not.. it's a blog!

2009-02-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Magnolia is 1!!!

------------------------------------------------
I'm not good at doing anything consistently but eating and ensuring that my child is cared for so, needless to say, blogging isn't my strong suit...or rather, monthly scheduled bloggings.

Ok. I'm going to try to keep this from being absolutely obnoxiously long like the last blog. In fact, this blog begins as "a morning in the life of Annie" with some info thrown in for good measure. I'm pretty desperate to hold your attention people.

Begin:

So...Magnolia is teething...bigtime. She officially has two fullies on the bottom and one halfie to the right. For those of you who don't know, I read the Twilight (vampires!) series and made fun of my brother-in-law for being a freak baby with fangs, and lo and behold, my little one grows not one, but BOTH fangs. Literally. No top front teeth, but their counterparts on either side. I, of course, find it to be awesome and, of course, am overwhelmed with pride. She now has one of the middle front teeth coming in and vaguely resembles a Halloween decoration (rhymes with mack-o-mantern).

Teething... so she is a fuss bucket, as can be imagined, and seems to be particularly difficult to please in the AM. So, this morning, I decided on oatmeal for us both and am excited as this is Noli's first time to try it. As Magnolia is unhappily screeching in her high chair with about a billion cheerios (she must be the only baby in history to stop liking them at 11 months) I pull out the oatmeal (all the while being trailed by 3 "ravenous" dogs) and realize there is only enough for 1.5 servings and, being a professional oatmeal burner, want to make sure to get it right. - maybe the longest sentence ever- but I digress...

I carefully measure out one cup of oats and proceed to knock the rest of the box over on the floor...DOGFIGHT!... 3 dogs, whom I consider to be relatively picky- especially Disco, eat the dry oats like I just threw a T bone on the floor.. hilarious/annoying. I let them work it out and clean my floor simultaneously as I cook what was left. I get Noli's bowl ready with a splash of whole milk and a teense of butter and pull out the sugar to dust it as this is a special first time breakfast. To sum it up, I salted it. And way more came out than I expected. Overall, a pretty awesome morning. She had cheese for breakfast. I'm trying not to think aobut how quickly the oatmeal will leave the dog's bodies but i know there is some serious fiber in it.

Alrighty. To the subject at hand. The kid.

1. Thanksgiving: fun, super fun showing off my little beauty queen. Is it too early to become a pageant mom? (I'm kidding, by the way, just because I put lipstick on her doesn't mean that I want to put mascara on her too...)

2.Christmas: so great to see family and I got a new fancy camera to get even more beautiful pics of my dogs... and Magnolia...I guess.

Pictures of the chaos of 5 children on x-mas morning.

3. many trips to OKC: our little getaway where my ENTIRE family lives.

This guy is one of the 4 cousins that we go to see in OKC.... he waits for us at the window making this EXACT FACE. Hi A.J.!

4.a birthday party: a heart/love/valentines day theme. maybe generic but so much easier decorating around the holiday. She ate some cake and hung out until she passed out!

yum yum yum!!!

That was awesome! Let's do that again tomorrow!

Party girl, signing out.

opening presents and hanging with friends and fam...

It's so good I can't even look! Partay!

Olive, Kaya, Magnolia, and Kairi - this is the only picture we could catch of all the girls! Party party!

Momo/Grandmommy likes to party.

Olive, Kaya, and Grandpaface Noli. Three girls who know how to party.

Mommy and Noli! She wore her bow for about 3 seconds after I painstakingly picked it out! Look at my party shirt. I definitely know how to party.

My great-grandparents, Mia and Pop! They ALSO like to party!

Bubbe and Benzo like to party! Rarrr!

Well... alot of people who are important to us showed up to Magnolia's party. Thanks so much for coming. I worked SO HARD and it meant SO MUCH for you all to come. I love you guys!

p.s. how is it possible that I don't have one picture of Mandy and Todd being at the party? Talk about CHAOS. Next time we'll have Mcdonalds do all the planning so we can relax and get pics!!!!

...............Good thing I managed to get THIS...........

Random and not one thing about Magnolia...

2008-12-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is Smiley. He's the happiest turtle that ever lived.

Mazzy doing her best "Really Ugly Dog" impersonation. She's not really ugly though, just impersonating....

Our little puggers when we first got them. Captain Trousers on the left and Mazzy Pancakes on the right. Sweetest dogs ever.

Jordan doing his typical pose for every picture I try to take of him. It's exasperating just looking at it. Also, he's SO TAN.

This is our engagment celebration night! We were so young and innocent! We thought marriage was a GOOD idea! Boy, were we wrong.

So we went on a cruise and stopped by a dollar store on the way there to kill some time and get a few $1 essentials. This is what we found. Notice at the bottom right "for foxy ladies". Weirdest part is that it smelled so good! Just kidding... It smelled like it cost $1.
Last, but certainly not least, the dog that doesn't want you to take his picture. At all. Seriously. Don't do it. He wants you to know that he's capable and very willing.

this was randomly saved to post on here so I did it!!!! YEAH! It has nothing to do with Magnolia but I was entertained nonetheless...

Long Blog Silver

2008-11-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

So... Jordan just told me that was the longest most informational overloaded blog ever. Sorry. I waited too long between them. Ha.

BYE!

SHE'S A GENIUS!

2008-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Ok... maybe not a genius but We are definitely impressed! October 9th, Magnolia said DADA!!!!! It's officially her first word! The pride from us is equivalent to if she had solved the financial crisis.

Now, I was a bit skeptical until Jordan came home from work one day. I thought it was just a coincidence that our little rocket scientist babbled baba and lala and yaya and dada, but I was WRONG! Jordan walked in the door and she looked at him and declared his presence by name "DADA"!

Since early October Magnolia has had some serious milestoning happening! I'll start at the beginning... well... not the beginning of EVERYTHING... I'll just start somewhere in the middle kind of towards the end. ish.

The biggest news as of late is that Jordan's sister Heather is pregnant! We've been hoping and praying for a cousin on this side of the family and are ecstatic! She is due June 22 and we can't WAIT!

So. A brief recap.

October:

-Magnolia says Dada for about a week and then starts calling ME dada...which is definitely not who I am.

-We take her to our chiropracter who tells me that she's pretty sure Magnolia just said, "hey!" to her when she walked up. Funny. We do hear "hey!" occasionally from her but not sure where it's directed or if it's what we think it might be. Also, everyone remarks on her excellent progress from the lump she used to be to the slightly mobile attentive Magnolia of today. A.K.A. Genius.

-One of my most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, fun, and brilliant friends from college, Jenny, comes to visit us and meet Magnolia for the first time. This is also the first time we've seen Jenny since our wedding day 2+ years ago! We are super stoked that she came! We all go to see King Tut and are sorely disappointed when we find out that King Tut isn't even there! It was King Tut's garage sale. Just a bunch of his stuff and huge canvases depicting his family tree and people that he maybe possibly might be distantly possibly related to. Slightly related to.
..... and then... I got sick. Super sick. Sicker than I've been in years. After 4 days of denying the fact that I had been running a high fever with chills AND profuse sweating and LOSING MY APPETITE (which is remarkable in itself) she convinces me to go to the doc. After a round of antibiotics, I"m feeling much better...by this point, Jenny has gone back to Omaha and I'm not sure when we'll see each other again. Still sad and mad about that. I MISS YOU JENNY!

-to OKC AGAIN!!!! Grandmommy was helping with Mags since I had "the itis".

-Magnolia is a peacock for Halloween and I have no pictures to prove it. It was a brief costume change in her life because she hated it! Jenny has one picture of Magnolia trying it on straight from the box it was delivered in but I need it sent to me in such a way that I can put it on my blog! Thank goodness Jenny is so technically savvy as I am NOT.

-Jordan's mommy, "Cessie or Bubie" gave me an offer I couldn't refuse - Mommy's day out a couple days a week so I can go to the gym or run errands. I love my baby but it is AWESOME. Thank-you Cessie!

November:
-Aunt Heather calls and says, "I wasn't sure what you wanted for your birthday but I was hoping a niece or nephew would be ok?" Cheers and excitement ensued!!!

- We go to the Fort Worth Zoo with our besties Suzanne and Kairi and check out some monkeys and a mommy lion and her cubs. Magnolia could care less but I was pretty excited.

- Magnolia has her 9 month check-up and my pediatrician makes me feel like a horrible mother and Jordan defends us to the doc and I vow to never go back to him. I cry in the car. He's a jerk and I'm glad I have an appointment with a different pediatrician a week later.

- Between that visit and the visit with the new doc, Magnolia falls sick. Sunday she begins crying hysterically at lunch and I take her from Jordan and feel that her head is radiating heat! I take her temp when we get home and it is 102.9! NO! TERRIFYING! Luckily, her visit with the new pediatrician (who is wonderful and makes me feel like a fantastic mommy) is early the next day. She ends up having an ear infection and a bacterial infection that require antibiotics. She's feeling much better now! During her feeling horrible and not sleeping at night and crying all day unless she is in someone's arms she had 2 more milestones!!!!!!
1.) When she cries she looks at me and says MAMA! She knows I'm not Dada! I'm Mama!
2.) She started CRAWLING! We have a video of that! I have to warn you, her daddy dressed her and she has on her best Jane Fonda workout attire. Funny now, hopefully funny in 20 years when she watches it as an adult.

So this brings us up to date and I will run a brief list of Magnolia's likes and dislikes at 9 months old.

Likes:
- Keys! Why do babies like keys? It boggles the mind.

- Mazzy and Trousers and Disco! Now that she can get to them, she likes a good mouthful of Trousers backhair. She gets soooo excited when Disco walks by....quickly...because if you don't remember... he has no interest in babies.

-teething biscuits and anything she can hold and chew pretty much.

- straws with a wee bit of water in them put in her mouth. She also likes it when you just drip the water down her cheeks or her nose or her forehead. Brings on the giggles. Good times!

- pulling up on ANYTHING! When she pulls up I always cheer for her (and sing the most ridiculous song ever) and she gets so excited, starts dancing, and then promptly falls.

- dog bones, specifically rawhides. Delicious. She's so sneaky and the dogs don't help. They'll just bring them to her and drop them and walk off. At least her teeth will be clean. Wait...there are NO teeth. Also, leaves and sticks and grass that stick to Disco's tail when he's outside then are deposited somewhere on the carpet inside for Magnolia to find and immediately try to eat.

- her room. it's her sanctuary. I understand.

- riding in the grocery cart! You can see so much more than in the carrier!

- Kairi! She loves her BFF bigtime! They touch each other and squeal from their strollers. Adorable.

Dislikes:

- Jumperoo. Sadly, it has lost its luster.

- getting dressed or having her diaper changed. Apparently, it's baby torture to have a diaper changed.

- sleeping. no change there. still a bad sleeper unfortunately for Jordan and I.

- prunes. no surprise. they looked horrific.

- wearing a bib, or even a shirt sometimes. she will try to pull it off and scream. Not my favorite thing ever...

Time for the good stuff.

Pictures and hopefully videos if I can figure them out.

She's crawling! Or some variation of... Turn your volume up. You'll hear a proud Papa!

Post crawl bliss!

Noli and Kairi cold chillin' in the play area at the zoo.

The grand entrance into the zoo. I couldn't resist the side by side cuteness.

Another bathtub mohawk. Think she likes sweet potatoes and carrots??? Her orange nose told me that she loved them.

Our little Maestro

New outfit from Bubie/Cessie. Little Strawberry!

A baby present from Aunt Heather. Sweet hat!

Thanks for checking out our big bundle of heavenly joy named Magnolia!

Party over here!

2008-09-19T08:09:00.001-07:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Magnolia is 7.5 months old! Amazing that she's growing so quickly! Before you know it she'll be shoving her face into her first birthday cake! (I wipe away a tear as I type those words).

There have been some significant changes in our little girl in the last month and a half. I've always heard that the 6 month mark brings lots of change and now I'm a believer! She has really come into her own in the last few weeks! She knows her name - Magnolia AND Noli, is really starting to show some strong preferences for what she likes and she doesn't (what a huge surprise - Annie and Jordan having an opinionated child...ha) .

She is getting stronger physically every day as well. She has learned how to sit up on her own and is reaching for EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. If she can put it in her mouth, that is a big bonus. When you hold her face close to yours - she comes at you with open arms and a WIDE open mouth and, if given the opportunity, will lick your face and suck on your cheeks. Not good for you blush wearers, but good for those of you who need a hug - even a baby hug...with tongue....

Another thing about this change in Magnolia is that she has pretty much become impossible in restaurants and movies are out of the question. We really pushed the movie thing for a looooong time... The last movie I took her too I have no idea what happened the last 25 minutes because we were in the lobby watching the video game lights - no fun.

She loves being outside - when all else fails in the land of crying babies - the stroller will generally do the trick, if not just walking outside and touching the leaves of the trees. I think she's gonna be a biologist. Maybe not. Last week I thought she was going to be a chef because she likes to watch me cook.... maybe she'll be a scientist... who knows? Jordan and I agree, as long as she's not a politician, she can be anything she wants to be! (Except for a politician... did I say that already?)

Here are some of Magnolia's favorite things:

Jumperoo - still the best thing ever. She jumps and jumps and jumps and JUMPS.

The dogs - Trousers - a mutual love between these two. Noli has - tragically - licked Trousers more times than I would like to admit. Trousers even likes being pulled on and kicked.
- Mazzy - not too interested in Magnolia but occasionally lets her grab her ears and gives her diaper a couple serious sniffs from time to time.
- Disco - still hates babies. In fact he hates ALL babies... and.... toddlers.... and small children, maybe midgets, anyone with skin darker than him, strangers, the trash guy, the mailman, Trousers and Mazzy, and squirrels...oooohhhh those dang squirrels.

back to magnolia.....

teething rings - bite sized and easy to hold - check and check.

the remote control - no idea why. probably because they are notoriously the dirtiest things in an entire house.

food! - she eats all fruits and veggies! sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, apples, bananas, cantaloupe, carrots, green beans, peas - everything! She prefers the orange veggies and that is unfortunately very clear when you look at her orange little nose... oops. I'm incorporating more green stuff into her diet now. She seems as though she is preferring food to breast milk - which is tough because there's a reason she's still nursing! Oh yeah - and she sucked on a tortilla at a mexican restaurant the other day and LOVED it.

sleeping - wait.... she doesn't love sleeping!

blah blah blah blah.. I could honestly talk about this kid all day long but I'll spare you all and give you PICTURES!

1st time to park with best friend Kairi! Kai is having so much fun! Magnolia is....sleeping.

2nd time to park! She's awake this time and trying to have fun...

trying on hats today. I really wanted this one but wasn't ready for everyone to say, "what a cute little boy!" over and over.
Going through hand me downs from cousin Ava. This is a super tall and funny hat.

Hello Trousers I can sit up!

The token "mohawk in the bathtub" pic

She wouldn't drink from it but holding it was super fun!

Was super happy 5 seconds ago...now is super sad.

Anyhoo... thanks for reading! Peace out!

Magnolia is 6 months old!

2008-08-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

I need to get a few things off my chest.

1.) I caught Jordan singing "girls just wanna have fun" to Magnolia last week. I might have had a tear roll down my cheek because it was so sweet.

2.) Magnolia is feeling much much better. The sleeping progress is slow going, but at this very moment she's been sleeping for 2 hours and 27 minutes... WOW. Probably a record in the nap department. It has vastly improved since I started putting her on her tummy to sleep. It's so scary, but worth it in order to retain my sanity.

3.) My brother and his family moved from Dallas to Oklahoma City. I miss them already and wish we would have hung out more! He's made some drastic changes in his life and is working for Feed the Children now! We are so proud of him and, quite frankly, a little jealous. We are itching to move somewhere! Anywhere! Preferably somewhere cold. The Tundra, for example.

Aunt Lisa and Magnolia's big pink bow

Uncle Matt - the last visit in their Dallas house

4.) Last week, Magnolia had her 6 month appointment.
Her statistics were as follows:
height - 25 inches - 28%
weight - 14lb 13oz - 25%
Head circumference - 42.5 - 52% (a.k.a. Frankenbaby) (lots of room for brains!)
Adorableness - 112%

The doctor said that she looks extremely healthy and although still a bit behind on her milestones due to her former preemie status - she is right where she is supposed to be and is getting stronger every day!
-Also in this appointment we've been given the go-ahead for REAL FOODS! And by real I mean soupy watery sweet potatoes. I've decided to make her food myself instead of buying the processed chemical foods. I hope to do it for as long as she needs me too. It's a bit time consuming but makes me feel like a good mommy.
-We started with avocados which from day to day can be either a.) delicious or b.) disgusting. Good thing the pugs will eat ANYTHING even watered down applesauced "guacamole". I got video of her first bites of avocado but that will be the next blog (because I have NO idea how the heck to put it on here).

I hope she likes sweet potatoes!

Avocados!

Uncle Todd finally has a picture on the blog (even though he's making this weird face)! Next up - Uncle Troy!

Matching outfits with big cousin Ava.

Grandma Cessie loves Magnolia!

Grandad and Grand mommy. Grandad must drug Magnolia or use voodoo or something because she can't stay awake in his arms.

Magnolia loves Aunt Heather.

So cute it hurts.

Sweetness.

messed up captions!

2008-07-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Clearly... on the last blog the captions got messed up. Ava's name somehow got deleted! If you can't figure out the rest then you're just sad. I know I'm mean. SO WHAT! Oh. Sorry. Read on and enjoy the information and photos of the sweetest member of the Anderson family.

The good, the bad, and the obviously adorable

2008-07-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Last night...for the first time... Magnolia rolled over! Granted it was from her back to the front and she did it with complete ease - which leads me to believe she would have done it earlier if I'd given her the chance. Anyhoo, we're excited.

This week, Magnolia had seemed exceptionally fussy and we just couldn't seem to ever get her happy for any extended period of time. Her sleeping patterns have seemingly gotten worse and more erratic than they've been in months and it's been hard to get her back to sleep after her nightly feeding(s)(sssss).

Well, Wednesday night was horrible. Both Jordan and I were up all night with our crying little monkey. Thursday, Magnolia and I went to IKEA with sis-in-law Heather , Grandma Cessie, and cousin Beth. Although she was fussy, Magnolia did OK for most of the 4 hours (YES - 4 HOURS!). Then...MELTDOWN. In the check-out line the back arching, red-faced, screaming monster came out! ...And this screaming basically continued until around 7:30 that night. It was about this time that Jordan and I decided to make a trip to an afterhours clinic.

We walked in and after a few minutes were called in to see the doctor. THIS GUY.....basically he said, "I don't know what it is. It could be anything! She doesn't have a fever or an ear infection. It could be anything!". We agreed and reminded him that's why we were there. He then said, "You need to go to an emergency room at a children's hospital and have some blood work done and x-rays". As you can imagine, this scared the you-know-what out of me. He followed his previous statement up with, "you need to go to the ER because one time, I told a lady that her baby wasn't sick and then a couple months later I was named in the lawsuit when something came up wrong with the baby".
AWESOME.
We ended up going to our pediatrician for a second opinion Friday and he said:
1.) that doctor was about as unprofessional as can be and he didn't think it was at all necessary for a trip to the ER
2.) She shows signs of eczema on her sweet, precious, slightly crusty face. this could cause itchiness and in turn - tears.
3.) She also has a virus that takes about 2 weeks to get out of your system. Where she got it? No one knows. It starts as a fever then manifests itself into a rash. Lovely - and makes you feel not so hot and in turn - tears again.

She seems to be feeling a bit better today and is smilier and gigglier than she's been in a long time. Just happy to have a bit of Magnolia back.

Also since my last blog - Jordan turned 29! I turned 29! and we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! Wee! I'm not good at math but I think this means we're OLD.

Here are some new Magnolia pictures. WARNING - She's ridiculously cute.

She'll sit in this every month to see how big she's getting!

And here is some stuff Magnolia's done recently:

Grandmommy came to visit...

Went to the aquarium and met these guys. Not fishes.

Aquariums make me very very sleepy.

My cousins and Aunt Lisa.

Aunt Mandy came to visit!

And Ava...

and A.J. too!

Then we went to Oklahoma and hung with Uncle Jason. He was so comfortable with me!

I ate some cereal and wiped it into my hair and eyes.

DELICIOUS!

That's about it for me in the last month! I've been busy!

what are you lookin' at?

2008-06-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures I promised. Recent ones and a couple oldies but goodies.

our beautiful little girl...

Jordan burping a confused looking naked Magnolia

obviously impressed and awed by whatever she's looking at

sleeping at "the ranch" (more to come of these pictures)

Hanging out with Trousers

sweet jammies

BUMBO!!!

I can't stop loving this picture.

Beautiful 3 month old girl.

Noli trying to teach Kai the dance from "Thriller" this was months ago!

We've come a long way baby. No fat and grandpa thighs (wrinkly and fat-free).

trying to look not exhausted while she is clearly unhappy with me.

BYE!

no good at blogging

2008-06-29T06:56:00.001-07:00

ALRIGHT! I'LL BLOG AGAIN!

Obviously, I haven't quite figured out how to manage my time as a mom and when I do have down time my thoughts do not go to "blogging".

Anyhoodle...here it go...

MAGNOLIA IS ALMOST 5 MONTHS OLD!

We took her to her 4 month visit a couple weeks ago and she is as healthy as she could be. A wee bit behind the curve due to her preemie status but the doctor was genuinely impressed at her progress the last 2 months! We are so proud! She weighed in at 12.9 a full 2 pounds under what I estimated! She's holding up her head like a champ and even tried to roll over for him.

She is getting better and better at sleeping during the night. She's even had a few nights where she's slept up to 9.5 hours straight! Impressive - I know. I believe 2 things have helped her, both stemming from her 4 month appointment, 1.) rice cereal. we literally left the doc's office and went straight to get her food. 2.) swaddling again. I KNOW! I stopped because I thought it would stunt her growth or something. Being a mom makes you think crazy.

Here are things that 4.5 month old Magnolia loves in no particular order - otherwise #1 would obviously be #19:
1.) tooting. it's out of control and brings her great joy.
2.) smiling so big that I can see the back of her throat - then promptly having the sad "somebody told me Santa isn't real" face.
3.) daddy. she'll break her neck trying to follow his voice.
4.) ME! Yeah. I said it. So WHAT.
5.) drooling. at least 3 outfits a day are destroyed. usually her hands in her mouth play a major part of this.
6.) her bumbo chair. go get one right now even if you don't have children. it's worth it. just put your dog in it or something.
7.) Mirrors. She's hot and she knows it.
8.) her pacifier. we love it too.
9.) her dogs. she smiles at them and loves watching them "play" (sadly, that usually means hump)
10.) her changing table. even if she's incredibly sad - a couple minutes on the changing table (she has pictures of birds above it - not scary birds, cool birds - that she looks at) and she loves the closeness of your face as you coo at her and smile.
11.) sing to her. she'll love you forever. I actually sang an entire Destiny's Child song - no idea what some of the words were, but that's not the point - and she smiled so much that her mouth dried out and she had to have a drink afterwards.
12.) her shoes. a girl after my own heart.
13.) the gauze orange monkey blanket draped over her head. or really anything draped over her head. it makes her very very relaxed.
14.) her family. it always surprises me. it's like she KNOWS they love her and they share the same blood.
15.) being outside. and stroller rides and car rides.
16.) jumping in her jumperoo! she's a wee bit short for it so we put a pile of books under her feet and a blanket in the seat to keep her anchored. it's so sweet.
17.) cool ranch doritos. just kidding. she likes cornuts best. tough to chew with no teeth, but worth the effort.
19.) being ADORABLE.
20.) her mobile.
21.) being naked. fresh air feels niiiiiice.
22.) standing up and looking around. I fear for our future. She's already bored with everything. I thought I'd have a chilled out low maintenance baby. I was wrong.

Stuff 4.5 month old Magnolia does NOT love:
1.) having her clothes changed. She holds her breath when it goes over her head...then yells at me during the arms part.
2.) prevacid. she has reflux (poor baby) and the taste of the medicine completely grosses her out.
3.) sitting still for too long.
4.) being put in her carseat. she's cool with it after she gets in the car but it's defcon 4 until then.
5.) not tooting. but that's why we learn early on how to help her work it out.

Happy to say that I can't really think of anything else.

If I can figure it out, I'm going to post some pictures of her doing her favorite things now. ENJOY!

Not really, but thanks for asking.

get your arm off of me. I'm not kidding. Kai and Noli! BFF!

Precious angel.

Diamonds on the inside.

Alright. I can't find the ones of her doing cute stuff, just funny stuff... so I'll blog again later. Hopefully not that much later.

Catch you on the flip side.
Peace out.

a little catch up - it's a long one

2008-06-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my mommy peers, I realized that it's only fair to Magnolia to start blogging about her/our life. Wanna hear it? Here it go...

I'm a bit behind - 16 weeks behind to be exact. At nearly 4 months, Magnolia is holding her head up pretty well and turning it from side to side - very curious about her surroundings, responding to Jordan's and my voice and smiling at just about anyone who will sweet talk her and smile back. It's been an amazing and, at times, extremely difficult journey. I've never worked so hard for anything but it's easy with daily reminders of the awesomeness of being a mother. Every day brings a stronger, smarter, happier, BIGGER Magnolia.

This is how it all started... well.. not from conception.... I'm pretty that's understood... so I'll start with our birth story.

February 13th, 2008, I went to Babies R' Us with Suzanne, a girl that I'd met in our childbirth class. (One of my favorite people on earth to this day.)
Suzanne is a full month ahead in her pregnancy and looks like she swallowed a Volkswagen (read - ENORMOUS). Throughout the day together I made several (bad) jokes about getting away from her before her water broke because I was too tired to take her to the hospital. The (bad) jokes continued all the way to her house where I told her I was exhausted and crampy and wanted to go home before she went into labor (the jokes continue). I waved goodbye, got in my car and drove home.

At around 3:45pm, I pulled into my garage. I was calling my sister and I hear and feel a loud POP! in my lower abdomen. It was like no feeling I'd had in my pregnancy thus far but with my due date still 5 weeks away I was alarmed but not freaking out. I described the feeling I'd just had to my sister and casually said, "I wonder if that's what it feels like when your water breaks". My sister, a mother of two, assured me that there would be no doubt when my water broke because there would be water...lots of water.
Since there was none I was still concerned but figured she knew what she was talking about. So I start undressing to get in the comfiest clothes possible and as I drop my pants I realize they're not the only thing running down my legs. The panicking begins. I start breathing heavily and can barely muster up the words to my sister that there is definitely WATER now. She very calmly says, "Call Jordan and tell him to come home then call your doctor". I am hysterical at this point - Magnolia can't be ready to come out!
I call Jordan and attempt to tell him, through the hysteria, the entire story that I've told so far in this blog.. he is seriously confused and thinks I've been in a car accident until I finally say, "my water broke. come home."

At this point I have no idea what to do with myself and sit down and cry for about a minute and pray that God will protect my tiny baby girl. I call my doctor and they confirm that I am in labor and to come to the hospital immediately since I am a high risk labor being 5 weeks early. I begin to pack my hospital bag (*note* pack your bag early next time - you just never know). Jordan later laughed at the contents of the bag which consisted of about 4 bras, 5 or 6 tank tops, and an extensive selection of make-up brushes for the make-up that I never wore while in the hospital.

The hospital admits me and immediately scares the crap out of me by telling me that I'll be on bedrest and need to have both mine and Magnolia's heartrates strictly monitored. Bedrest means that all of the coping mechanisms that I learned in childbirth class are void. I just have to lay there and take it. They said "breathe!" and I said, "I'M TRYING!" This is why I ended up with my epidural at only 4 centimeters. I had pretty bad back labor and was relieved when the pain began to disappear and I was able to catch my breath. The epidural has a downside too though. You feel paralyzed. I couldn't move or feel my legs. I couldn't shift positions or even realize that my hand was resting on that lump of flesh formerly known as my left leg.

After multiple uncomfortable checks throughout the next 10.5 hours they finally confirm that I am at 10 centimeters and call my OB to come deliver baby Mags. The hospital employees POURED into the delivery room (4 for me and 4 from NICU for my tiny peanut baby).
I can honestly say that I felt no pain while pushing her out. They said, "PUSH!" and I did as I was told - completely spaced out. After just a couple wicked pushes she popped out and they wisked her away to make sure she was ok. It was about this time that my doctor found out that the shape of my uterus is heart shaped which basically meant that she ran out of room which explained the early arrival.

Magnolia Elizabeth Anderson was born at 3:43am at 5 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches. AMAZINGLY and by the GRACE OF GOD, she was in the NICU for less than 2 hours.

The first few days and weeks of her life were hard. Very hard. They sent her home with us at 4lbs 8oz. Scary. Talk about sleepless nights. So I fed her...and fed her... and fed her... by 2 months she'd almost doubled her weight. Now, at 16 weeks I estimate her to be around 13lbs.

So that's my story.

By the way, Suzanne delivered Kairi Candy Spears 8 days later at 9lbs 14oz. I told you she was big. Magnolia has almost caught up to Kairi already. Ha. Big girl.